Genshin Impact BL DISCONTINUED

Popsicle (Aether/Chongyun)

"You're Aether, aren't you? Ah..sorry! Didn't mean to scare you..", Chongyun said a little startled when he suddenly stood next to Aether at the harbour, looking at him rather expressionless but friendly.
"Ehuh... Are you Chongyun? Xingqiu has already told me that you are looking for me.", Aether replied with a polite smile which made Chongyun suddenly look at his feet instead of him.
"That's me. Thank you for agreeing to help me. I've heard that you can't take part in the challenge alone, but I urgently need to review what's going on there. If there are evil spirits, I have to take care of them immediately.", Chongyun told Aether before he explained what information he had already gathered. To be honest, the blonde had a lot of doubt that anything about it was true, but simply couldn't tell him. He was kind of just too cute when he somewhat enthusiastically talked about it.
"Well...shall we go?"

On the way to Wuwang Hill, the two talked about all kinds of things. Well, actually Chongyun was talking about the evil spirits while Aether just listened, but it didn't bother him. When they got there it, Aether immediately knew that this was really just a game. He watched the couples walk through the grounds while he listened to the game master and wondered what the drink was made of.

"..uh..I ... shouldn't drink that. If it really boosts yang energy it could get dangerous for me...", Chongyun said and Aether turned back to him in curiously.
"You see...I have a rare constitution called 'pure-yang spirit'..it helps my to scare away evil spirits but also makes me prone to emotional impulses..", the light blue-haired explained calm but a little embarrased, Uncle Jia chuckled at that.
"Don't worry too much young man. I am sure your boyfriend will take good care of you. Just enjoy yourselves.", Uncle Jia spoke amiably and handed both of them a cup, but Chongyun waved his arms too hectic to even take the cup.
"We actually..just met..", He mumbled just as nervously as he was and was relieved when Aether took both cups.
"I'll just drink it alone. I don't think it will do anything. And if it does, then you surely know what to do about it.", Aether finished his cup quickly and smiled at Chongyun, waiting for him to finally enter the grounds.

The two asked the other participants about any abnormalities, checked the area and this time actually talked about various topics. But as Aether had expected there was no evil spirit, just bad actors.
"..I guess I got too involved, didn't I? I'm sorry I wasted your time.", Chongyun sounded honest but also a little bit disappointed.
"Don't worry. How about really doing this for fun next time?"
"For fun? Oh..I'm not used to the concept of doing this for fun...Wait. You want to meet me again?"
"Sure, why not?"

Originally, Chongyun only agreed to meet him again because he felt guilty. Not that he didn't like Aether, but he hardly had time for anything like that.
After a few more unsuccessful searches for evil spirits and a few afternoons in which they actually did things for fun, the light blue-haired got used to Aether's company. And if he was honest, he always looked forward to seeing him.
"It's just because he's so easy going. Maybe he has the right energy. It's almost like I'm more in control when he's around.", Chongyun told his blue-haired friend, whose eyes were the only thing that could be seen behind the book he was reading.
"Ehuh. My expenses have decreased significantly since I no longer have to buy you so many popsicles.", Xingqiu replied with a giggle, folded the book and slammed it a little too hard on the floor while he looked at Chongyun fake seriously.

"But, my liege, I believe you fell in love with the traveler~"
"No, I did not!", Chongyun replied a little too quickly and nervously to convince Xingqiu and sighed heavily when he looked at his feet embarrased.
"Isn't it romantic? Brought together by  his one and only best friend, the impulse control disordered exorcist falls in love with the mysterious fearless traveler. Almost like in an inferior novel."
"Xingqiu, stop reading stuff like that. I am not in love with him."
"Yes, that's what the protagonist asserts in almost every of these novels until one fine day they realize how they really feels."
"I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM!"
"Hey ... uhm ..what's going on?", Aethers voice was like a jump scare for Chongyun. He immediately jumped up reflexively, making a startled noise while Xingqiu just laughed wholeheartedly.
"Calm down, it's just me. Sorry if I scared you.", Aether was at least as irritated as Chongyun but tried to calm him down. He put his hand on the other's shoulder to offer support, but that only seemed to make it worse. The light blue-haired was breathing quickly and stared at the floor, blushing and visibly confused.

"Popsicle?", the blonde asked gently, smiling warm and apologetic.
Taking a deep breath, Chongyun nodded slightly.
"..yes, please.."
"Well, I still have some errands to do anyway, so..have fun~", Xingqiu sounded amused and winked at the light blue-haired before he left lightly. He had nothing to do, but was interested in teasing Chongyun about being their match maker one day. Always giving him false information about evil spirits got boring in the long run anyways.

"There you go.", Aether said after he bought a popsicle for Chongyun and handed it to him. Chongyun grabbed the popsicle nervously, hoping that it would really help against this kind of nervousness. Of course it didn't, but at least eating it was a bit of a distraction.
"Chongyun, don't get me wrong, but it feels like Xingqiu is kidding you pretty often.  Why do you always let this be done to you?"
"Huh?.. Oh it's not that bad. He doesn't actually want to hurt or harm me. That's just the way he is. Everyone has their own peculiarities. And after all, we've been friends for a long time."
"Friends ... ", Aether mumbled to himself until Chongyun looked at him questioningly.
"Nevermind. Just don't always put up with everything, no matter whether it is about Xingqiu or your work. You deserve more than that."
Hearing him say that, Chongyun blushed again, heavily flustered by his words.
"Aether, do you worry about me?", the exorcist asked quietly.
"Uhm..you really don't have to. My family has been doing this job for generations, I know what I'm doing and Xingqiu doesn't really tease me that much either.", he added quickly and again much more nervously, embarrassed by the fact that he had even thought about Aether being worried.

Aether merely nodded in response and looked at the sea infront of them.
Chongyun sighed inwardly. For a while he just sat silently next to Aether, thinking about what Xingqiu had said, completely forgetting the second popsicle in his hand.
The melting ice dripped onto Aether's hand, whereupon he briefly looked back at Chongyun before he simply licked it off.
"Doesn't taste that bad at all.", he just commented and smiled at the boy who had been watching him a little too closely. Chongyun nodded in confusion before he shoved the melting remains of the ice into his mouth to prevent it from making any more dirt.
Aether chuckled. In a smooth move he put his hand on Chongyun's cheek and wiped the remains on his mouth with his thumb. Chongyuns face could never have been redder than it was at this moment. And surely it had never been before. Every particle of the energies in his body got confused. Caught in a chaos between the feeling of passing out and more energy than he had ever had, Chongyun had no choice but to pursue the first impulse he had. He suddenly grabbed the fabric on the shoulders of Aethers shirt with both hands, pulled the other towards him and pressed his lips to Aethers with his eyes tightly closed. His heart almost popped out of his chest when he heard a nervous gasp, but felt Aether sink into the kiss and return it.
It was a clumsy, rather inexperienced kiss, but enough to show what Chongyun felt for Aether and vice versa.

Although he was incredibly excited,  he felt a lot calmer than before and smiled slightly as they broke the kiss again, Aether's hand still resting on his cheek.
"Sorry. I was just a little confused."
"Don't worry. How about doing that again?"
Chongyun felt like he had heard Aether say something similar before and felt strangely warm when he remembered that it was once Aether's suggestion to keep meeting.
But instead of asking if Aether really wanted that, he just nodded briefly, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Didn't I tell you? After all, I'm the best match maker in all of Teyvat."
"...really? Praising yourself?"
Xingqiu and Xiangling giggled while Paimon put her hands on her hips, all three tucked behind a pillar a few meters away from Aether and Chongyun.